Two Mercs: Part Five

The drive back to their flat started out silently, the subdued roar of the van's engine the only noise. They had left the meeting with Mr Shadow still in the dark about his identity, beyond the fact he was high-born, and why he was using them to destroy Sentinel Aegis. The roar settled into a gentle hum as Emily slowed upon nearing a set of traffic lights and Dave took the time to glance at her, noticing the tight grip she had on the steering wheel.
"Still feeling violated?"
"How would you feel if someone went through your memories like they were watching a film? Thank god his distraction got so bad I had to shut down my neural interface."
The lights changed and Emily got the van moving again, seamlessly joining the traffic on the Great Ringroad, before conversation was possible again, Dave pulling out the map and carefully opening it.
"Watford is heavily mechanised and, last I heard, was run by a pretty brutal gang. You'll probably have to start learning about using a firearm before we go there."
"A knife won't be enough?"
Dave shook his head, idly tracing a series of routes from where the flat was to the Watford area.
"The gangs will be using factory cast-offs. We'll need armour-piercing bullets for if we encounter them. You'll probably also need a method of suicide in case you get caught."

Turning off to descend towards the low-city Emily showed the ident-card to the barrier and began to start the drive back to the flat. She paused when Dave casually reached across her to point at a store-front just before they went past it.
"Drop me off here. I'll convince someone to give up their weapon for you."
Emily hastily bought the van to a stop, glancing at the run-down building before frowning and looking at her companion.
"We have no money remember."
Dave laughed as he climbed down from the van, glancing back to grin at Emily.
"I know. Like I said, I'll convince someone to give up their gun."

---

The building, which had inherited the store-front in a previous stage of life, was actually a fight club. Walking into the open arena Dave could see splatters of blood from the previous night's death-match and he grinned when he spotted two stacks of large tiles in one corner, just waiting to be laid out. A man was bent over a large pool of blood in the centre of the arena, an already bloody mop in hand, and he turned at the sound of Dave's footsteps.
"Daveyboy!" Dave's grin slipped slightly as the arena master approached. "You haven't been here in a while."
"I'm here now Vic." Dave nodded at the tiles. "Something exciting planned for tonight?"
"A two-team mass fight. You gonna stay to watch."
Dave paused for a moment, disappointed by Vic's response, before moving towards the tiles.
"Make it a game of chess and I'll stay."
"You've got something up your sleeve. What are you up to?"
"I'm broke, and I need a new pistol."
"So you want to play a game with some stakes. A pistol for what?"

Over the next few hours the stands around the arena filled up. Dave had assisted Vic in laying down the tiles, creating a great chessboard, and then Vic had spread word of Dave's challenge, a pistol for a van. An opponent had come forward, Lucas of the Battersea Chimney gang, and the two teams had been shipped in, each one of the soon-to-be combatants loaded up on a cocktail of drugs. They were either abductees from the higher levels, for which the snatchers had Dave's respect, or they'd been run through a body-shape clinic, for no-one born in the low-city was born to be that naturally beautiful. Dave was admiring the combatants when Lucas approached, the two men sizing each other up.
"You're the one I'll be taking the pistol from then?"
Lucas grinned, pulling a customised pistol from a jacket pocket. The grip had been panelled with pieces of scrimshawed ivory and the barrel had had a kill count acid-etched into the metal. Dave let out a low whistle of appreciation and Lucas returned the pistol to its holster.
"I imagine you don't have the van here. For when I win."
"No, the van isn't here. But you won't win so it doesn't matter."
Vic chose this moment to step up to the men, gesturing towards pulpits that had been set up on either side of the chessboard.
"Gentlemen, the teams are here and getting prepared as we speak. The crowd is here and getting excited. The cameras are here and ready to start transmitting. Are you ready?"